What’s Going On in This Picture? | Feb. 26, 2018

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What’s going on in this picture? Look closely at the image above or view it in a larger size, then tell us what you see by posting a comment. On Thursday afternoon, we will reveal more about the image and its origins at the bottom of this post.CreditCreditSergei Remezov/Reuters

1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:

• What is going on in this picture?

• What do you see that makes you say that?

• What more can you find?

2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?

Barbara Barrett, the back-up crew member of the space tourist Guy Laliberté, tested her flight chair at a facility outside Moscow. Mr. Laliberté, owner of Cirque du Soleil, will become the world’s seventh, and Canada’s first, space tourist. He is slated to travel on a Russian Soyuz space craft to the International Space Station in September.

You can read an interview with Mr. Laliberté and view photos from his orbit here.

Virgin Galactic may be aloft as soon as next year, just one among a handful of companies competing to take amateur astronauts to the upper reaches of the atmosphere — and beyond. In what may be the final frontier in extreme tourism, these outfits are offering experiences that range from a few moments of weightless wonder (most for six figures), to weeks-long Apollo mission-style adventures (for, gulp, nine). Forget climbing Everest, trekking to the South Pole or canoeing up the Amazon: How about taking a trip to the far side of the moon?

That’s exactly the package being offered by Excalibur Almaz, based on the Isle of Man, which recently announced its intention to send people — very, very wealthy people — to a “gravity neutral point” near the moon for the ultimate get-away-from-it-all. The price: About $150 million. Wait, you’re on a budget? O.K., well, for just $50 million, Space Adventures, in Virginia, says its can get you to the International Space Station, a trip seven people have already enjoyed that includes up to 12 days in orbit and, presumably, all the freeze-dried ice cream you can eat.

Not crazy about the lodging options? Well, if you’re willing to wait, the owner of the extended-stay hotel chain Budget Suites of America, Robert T. Bigelow, says that he plans to launch a variety of private space stations (nightly rate to be determined).

And while some trips will be more readily available in the near term than others, scientists and players in the space race say that the long-fanciful idea of vacationing in space, if only for a few moments, is on the cusp of becoming reality.